Read what Avram Goldman, says in his latest weekly report:

Note: While Avram is no longer with Coldwell Banker, he is still a friend and associate with an excellent handle on San Francisco Real Estate.

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2008—Recession—No Recession—Recession—No recession. Not a day goes by (or for that matter an evening) without the same mantra from the media. The year begins with the same economic uncertainties as it ended with.

If we look closer there still is much to be happy about. Unemployment which is up, is still reasonable (95% of America is working); job growth is still on the plus side, although anemic; food and fuel prices are out of sight, although inflation is still manageable; and as far as the Fed is concerned, rates will come down. Most important for real estate here is that there is still demand. The only issue is the demand is reluctant to exercise itself. Why do you blame buyers, all they hear is wait, the prices will drop.

Traffic through open houses tells the story. Usually January tends to be slower. Not the case this year, particularly in those markets that were the strongest in 2007. In San Francisco the traffic at last Sunday’s opens was brisk. The open houses averaged 18-35 groups with some notable exceptions. A Cole Valley duplex listed at $1.349 mil. had 300 groups through and a Pacific Hts. triplex listed at $2.595 had over 100 visitors. It wasn’t just SF. In the East Bay, a Crocker Highlands listing in Oakland, experienced 300 buyers. It was listed a bit over $1.6 mil. . We are still seeing good numbers of buyers in all areas. What this early activity indicates is that there is still plenty of pent up demand. . .

Read the entire report here.

- Avram Goldman

* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send an e-mail to info@SFResidence.com with “weekly market report” in the subject line.

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”…That’s a saying heard often in places where the weather can turn on a dime, making it very difficult to forecast. And while the weather patterns can change direction quickly, the recent movement of stocks and bonds rivals the rides at an amusement park.

“Turbulent” and “volatile” best describe the action in the markets. Stocks and bonds have had wild swings of late as the possibility of a recession loom. The Federal Reserve is concerned about a recession, but doesn’t want to cut rates too deeply because it may stoke the flames of inflation. In a speech last Thursday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled the Fed will step in with interest rate cuts as necessary in an effort to prevent a full-blown recession from taking place. It sure looks like the Fed will break off a 50 basis point (1/2%) interest rate cut in its battle to fight a potential recession when the Fed next meets to determine monetary policy on January 30th.

But remember that because Fed rate cuts may add to inflation pressures, home loan rates may actually increase after a cut by the Fed. We have seen this type of chilly response to Fed cuts many times before. Just back in September, the Fed cut by 50 basis points, but home loan rates worsened by 0.25% in just 3 days!

Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks

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SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.

Keep in mind these numbers reflect the activity over the past 3.5 weeks while “school’s been out”. But the numbers still indicate a healthy market in San Francisco, during what is traditionally referred to as the slowest time of the year.

Here are the numbers posted this week: 1/12/08:

• 12 new listings (average price $983,083 – low $549,000, high $1,800,000 with 1 listing price to be determined) 1 ratified sale (pending) (average price $749,000)
• 18 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,318,611 – low $440,000, high $4,510,000 with 1 confidential sale)

- Christine Serventi

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

“THE BEST WAY TO APPRECIATE YOUR JOB IS TO IMAGINE YOURSELF WITHOUT ONE.” Oscar Wilde And unfortunately, last Friday’s Jobs Report indicated that many more Americans than expected are not just imagining themselves without a job, they truly are without a job.

The Unemployment Rate jumped up to 5.0% from 4.7%, and new job growth in December was reported at a paltry 18,000 jobs…with private-sector job growth actually falling by 13,000, the largest private sector drop in more than four years. And here’s an interesting note – Hourly Earnings actually moved higher than expected. While this seems somewhat contradictory to a slowing jobs number, perhaps it means that employers are attempting to save money by paying more dollars to fewer workers, rather than hiring more staff.

Many experts feel that even the lower than expected number of jobs created is an overstatement, due to averaging that is used by the Labor department, and that this number will eventually be revised lower. Job growth is a leading indicator of economic health, and the latest read points to a strong possibility of a recession in 2008.

Overall, the Jobs Report was much weaker than anticipated – and remembering that negative economic news is generally bad for the Stock market, but good for the Bond market – Bonds enjoyed some nice gains, sending home loan rates about .25% lower throughout the week.

Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks

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Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

“YOUTH IS WHEN YOU’RE ALLOWED TO STAY UP LATE ON NEW YEAR’S EVE. MIDDLE AGE IS WHEN YOU’RE FORCED TO.” Bill Vaughn And battle weary Traders may be looking to hang it up early for the night, after enduring days and weeks on end of extreme market volatility. And last week was no exception, as the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister and current opposition leader Benazir Bhutto brought on even more volatile moves in the markets.

There is global concern over the possibility that the Pakistani government may become destabilized – and if this should happen, which political faction may end up in power with control over its nuclear arsenal. This is a very good example of how unforeseen political events from around the world can impact home loan rates, as Bonds trade in response to the headlines. Following the assassination, Bond prices moved higher upon the increased demand for the “safe haven” found in Bonds, and home loan rates improved by about .125% for the week overall.

Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks